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Self-Occupation Or Christ-Occupation

I correct and discipline everyone I love. Take this seriously, and change the way you think and act. (Revelation 3:19 GWT)

There is the big question which is always confronting us as to why is it that some leap into the light and go on, and others do not, but always lag behind, and never seem to see any more? Is it that there is a selectiveness on the part of God, a kind of elect of the elect that He has, is it that He has favorites? I do not think so. I think a great part of the answer lies here, namely, in what God finds He has to deal with, whether people mean business with Him or not, whether He has a clear way or not, whether the ground is occupied or not already by that which is an obstruction to Him. I do not think anybody will fail to get all the light the Lord wants them to have if they really do mean business with God. The Holy Spirit knows us. He looks right deep down into our hearts and knows whether we mean business. He sees exactly what there is to hinder Him and how far He can go; for the Lord is not going to coerce anyone.

If we are taken up with ourselves, occupied with ourselves, circling round ourselves, centering in ourselves, then the Holy Spirit has not a chance. We have to come to an end of ourselves. That is the trouble with so many. They have got a self-complex set up, and all the time it is a continuous going round in a circle and coming back to the same point at which they started, and it is all round themselves, and they are wearing themselves out. Before long they are going to have an awful crash that involves all that for which they are supposed to stand and represent for the Lord, and it will come down with them. The Holy Spirit has not a clear way. We have to get out of the way, so far as this self-occupation is concerned, if we are going to move straight on, and to go on. He knows exactly where we are, whether we are so tied up in them that we are not open to the Lord to consider any further light at all. "We have got it all, or our people with whom we are associated have got it all, and we are a part of that!" You know what I mean. The Holy Spirit cannot do much with folk who are in a position like that; and He knows. His attitude is, "It is no use, I cannot do much there, they are too tied up." But, if we are prepared to put everything into the water, then the Lord can go on and get a clear way.

Abide in Me, and I in you.

I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find … O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God—through Jesus Christ our Lord! § If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. § If indeed you continue in the faith, grounded and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard.

Little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. § He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.

John 15:4;  Gal. 2:20;  Rom. 7:18,  Rom. 7:24,25;  Rom 8:10;  Col. 1:23;  1 John 2:28;  1 John 2:6

Do you believe in the Son of God?

Who is He, Lord, that I may believe in Him?

[He is] the brightness of [God’s] glory and the express image of His person. § The blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honor and everlasting power. Amen. § “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End,” says the Lord, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Lord, I believe! § I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.

“Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame.” Therefore, to you who believe, He is precious.

John 9:35;  John 9:36;  Heb. 1:3;  1 Tim. 6:15,16;  Rev. 1:8;  John 9:38;  2 Tim. 1:12;  1 Peter 2:6,7

Three-fold Cord

For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18).

The Word of life, the Lord of life, and the exigencies of life all must combine to give us a ministry of life.

"There is no personal knowledge of God but as we count on Him, as we are practically conscious of depending on Him and of His caring for us. One without straits, and victories, really has no growing acquaintance with God; and where there is not this, however great the intelligence or sincerity, there is little or no savor."

"It is the trials and difficulties of the way that are the opportunities for our hearts to grow in acquaintance with Him; and it will be found, while there may be many great enjoyment in ministry, and in the unfolding of truth, that really there is not strength but in proportion as one has learned how God has been for and with one in the trials and sorrows of the way; and as one has known Him in them, so is one able to speak of Him."

"The one purpose which our Father has in view, in all His ways, is to conform us to the image of His Son. This may explain our perplexities as to the past; it will govern our behavior in the present; it is to be our guidance in the future. The chief concern of our Lord is not to instruct us about a multitude of details, not to explain to us the reason for the trials which we are called to pass through. He is working out everything to serve His supreme purpose in displaying the character of His Son in His redeemed ones."

"For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God" (2 Cor. 4:15).

The Way Up Is Down - Once Upon Eternity (6)

He Is Jesus